Good Obscure or Rarely Discussed Films: Stay Tuned (1992)

Director: Peter Hyams

Starring: John Ritter, Pam Dawber, Jeffrey Jones

John Ritter plays Roy Knable, a struggling plumbing salesman who's mainly a couch potato when away from work and with the family, one day he gets an upgrade on his home television unit from a shady door salesman named Mr. Spike. This upgrade comes in the package of a new high tech satellite dish filled with strange channels that none of the big networks offer. Things take a turn for the weird when Roy and his wife Helen get sucked into the twisted world of their TV and forced to partake in a series of gameshows and obstacles with life or death consequences.

Stay Tuned is a thrill ride from the get-go, it doesn't spend much time developing the characters or coming up with a brilliant set-up as say Honey I Shrunk The Kids. It instead goes for the jugular and transports you into a twisted realm of screwy comedy, of which can seem like a lost episode of Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt. John Ritter in my opinion was rarely better than here with his perfectly timed brand of dry comedic delivery, working in time with the films outlandish spectacle of tv show send-ups in effortless fashion.

It's family entertainment at it's finest with a sense of daring potential rarely seen, never scared to go places the MPAA would have a field day with, but always managing to have heart and importance despite it's overtly wacky tone. To put it simply it's a relic of it's time, it's when studios dared to take chances and new ideas were welcomed with dollar signs.

Much of the reason it's not highly regarded is due to it having ditched the light-hearted fluff of yesteryear and going for cleverly disguised M-rated jokes, this was of course met with disapproval by most families looking for another Hook or Mighty Ducks. Aided to that themes of Hell and Satan, with gags about murderers, death and horror movies and you've got a wild mix that was ten years ahead of it's time. Highly recommended if you like John Ritter and your PG Rated comedy with bite.